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Full Spectrum Cycling
Chewey’s Salon Chair #19 – SSUSAIA – Decorah Time Trial Reunion – Potential Trips
Jun 1, 2022
Chewey’s Salon Chair #19 – SSUSAIA – Decorah Time Trial Reunion – Potential Trips
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0:00
[rock music] Good morning.
0:19
[laughs] Yeah. This is Chuy's Lounge Chair Number 19 from the, uh, secret hideaway in Decorah. Uh, Spinner and I are here drinking cof- drinking coffee. Drinking coffee for a change. How fucking old have we gotten?
0:32
Oh, oh no. There was something else that came up yesterday that reminded us how old we were. We haven't done an all-day drinking in a long time. No, no.
0:40
So i- it's, um, in, in Iowa and Minnesota, and probably everywhere else, it's the start of graduation season. Iowa, Iowa's about a week ahead of I- Minnesota, so we're just getting ready to start ours.
0:50
We had our first graduation party yesterday with, um, the Turner family, and they brought way too much beer. Yeah. And we did our best to get rid of it.
0:58
We literally started out, we battled with another old couple for the last table sitting. [laughs] And they'd picked up all the rest of the tables except for ours.
1:06
And then we decided that we were far too far from the cooler, so we literally picked up our table and moved it right next to this giant cooler. [laughs] How big was that cooler? I don't know. That was a lot. That was-
1:17
It- I'm gonna guess, I'm gonna guess if it was a cattle tank, it's going to be a- No, not, it's not a cattle tank. It- No, but if it was, I mean, that's got the, it's, it, that's what it looked like.
1:24
It's the size of a big square, like- I think, like-... farm tank. It- The big, the big cooler that you get is, like, 128, and this was at least four of those.
1:33
So that might've been, like, a 500 quart, 500-some quart container. I was, I was thinking at least, uh, I'll bet it's close to 100 gallons. Yeah. And it's got, it had forklift, uh- Yeah... slots in it.
1:42
[laughs] Well, you, if you had it full, you would have to. Yeah. 'Cause it was, well, we did a nice job of lightening it up anyway. Yeah.
1:48
So that, so, so today's podcast, this podcast, is gonna be a little bit of SingleSpeed USA. Um, we've run into a couple problems. They're not anybody's problems but ours. Um- Yeah, I don't know what I did.
2:00
Um- And they haven't told me, and it's the weekend. Yeah, it's the weekend. So registration was supposed to have opened on Friday.
2:06
On Friday at 6:00, which in hindsight that was stupid because [laughs] that's probably after they're closed. And then, um, I don't get any response through the weekend, so it's still sitting in a pending state.
2:18
I don't... So fear not, we're still gonna run the race. We're still gonna get registration up and running. It's- Yeah... um, we'll, uh, we'll ma- it'll, it'll work.
2:26
We're just, we're just, like, sitting here spinning our wheels this weekend, though, because we can't- We can't fix it. We had a, we've had, we've had only, what, one com- what was the one complaint the guy said?
2:34
[laughs] Do you remember? "I can't wait to regret this decision." [laughs] Yeah. Well, the, the highlights I guess. Um, so I did $45, um, and that's, we're covering all the fees.
2:47
Usually if you do a bike reg, it's like if it's 50 bucks, and they're like, "Do you wanna pay the extra 250, 273," whatever, for the registration fee. So, but that's covered in the 45. Um, what else?
2:59
So Grizzly is a sponsor. So Grizzly is like, uh, Yeti, if you're not familiar. Grizzly Cooler is this big-ass cooler we're talking about. That was a Grizzly yesterday.
3:07
Um, they're made here in Decorah, so they're gonna be a sponsor. We'll give some schwag to that.
3:12
That'll cover our cost for our shirts, our venue, and then, you know, we're looking at a f- couple of different food options, um, to have at the event.
3:21
But- There- I put- There's, there's a possibility of a Roller-Dog machine in the middle of the woods. [laughs] That's gonna happen. I got the generator for it. [laughs] That's gonna be so funny.
3:31
I need, maybe I should buy a second one. Yeah. Well, and then we're gonna, I think we're gonna have that cooler too. Mm-hmm. That, that giant-ass cooler. That's gonna be- We're gonna have that in the middle too.
3:38
That's gonna be interesting to get that out there. Well, we can take it out there empty. Yeah. We'll have to. Yeah. But- So I did two categories. I did fun and then fast. Or no, wait,
3:47
fast and then fun and fellowship, so those are our two different categories. I think I did 50 in f- fast and then two, 150 in the other one. So expecting 200.
3:56
We'll see how fast that fills up and if we need to open more spots. If we need to do something different, we can. Um, yeah, this, uh, I'm assuming we'll have the site up by the time this show, uh, is posted.
4:07
Well, yeah, yeah. The, this is, this is, this is just calming our nerves more than anything else. [laughs] Yeah. Yeah. And, and it was in town, so we could do a podcast. We decided to, to do it this way.
4:16
So, um, the race itself is, I mean, as far as everything is set as we know what we're gonna run for a course. Yep. We know how we're gonna run it now. Yep. Um, we've got a venue.
4:26
The Elks is gonna l- is loaning us their building, so we've got a nice venue to use- Yeah... for post. Well, we're, we're paying for it, but yeah. Yeah. But I mean, well, yeah, right.
4:34
But it, I mean, it's a great place to, to hold the after party and, um- There's separate bars in there. That's the nice part. There's, like, a kitchen and a bar downstairs, and it's kinda like a classic-looking bar.
4:43
I mean, it's like- Yeah... red velvet stuff. [laughs] Yeah, that's cool. Yeah. Like, mirrors on the walls. Um, it's really cool, and then the upstairs is, like, a, it's kind, not really a dive bar, but it's- It's got-...
4:55
kinda got that feel. It's got the little bar, and then it's got chairs, and it's got a big elk head on the wall that we've done. And a fireplace in there. Yeah. Yeah.
5:01
It's, uh, it's like a, it's like a bar at the end of your den- Yeah... basically. Yeah. Yeah. So that's gonna be fun. The whole- And then the upstairs is the auditorium with the stage for the band. Yep.
5:09
Still assuming Hollywood's coming to play. Um- I haven't talked to him for a bit, but I, I don't- He said-... know why he'd miss it. Oh, yeah, he said something about- Actually, it was-... "We'd love to play." Yeah.
5:17
So I told him, well, next time he's coming through on his way to Iowa City. Is it Cedar Rapids or Iowa City? He's from Iowa City. Yeah. Yeah. So next time coming through, stop in.
5:25
It'll be- And- It'll, it'll be the van parade. Have you seen his vans? Oh, God, yeah. I know. Oh, they were doing a, uh, van, van nationals. It was in Albert Lea, Minnesota. Yeah. Was it?
5:34
[laughs] And, uh, they were driving around the lake, and then Christie's got a video up. She, and looking at Hollywood, and he's like, "Not only are we in a van parade, but there's a tractor parade coming the other way."
5:44
So they were driving, turning, and the vans are going one way around the lake in Albert Lea, and then he, and they share the video, and there goes my mom and there goes my dad driving tractors- [laughs]...
5:52
right on the other side. So that was pretty neat. Yeah. So, so the, the event itself is- Shaping up nicely. Yep. I think it's gonna be fun. It should be the usual Midwest debacle. Yeah. That's the best we can tell.
6:07
Just don't worry about the registration. Hopefully, by the time this podcast comes out, the registration is up and running, and if not, we will- It will be...
6:15
we'll, yeah, if nothing else, we'll add something to this podcast, just a little blurb to let you know what's going on. So, but we should be good.
6:20
I'd just say follow, look for SingleSpeed USA on Facebook and on Instagram, and that's where I share everything. Yeah. So, um, I don't have like an- another website. That's where everybody's at these days.
6:30
Well- I mean, that's where I put information out...
6:32
you know, we said that when we first started, when DJ and those guys first started SingleSpeed USA, that was the whole idea, was just we're just gonna- it's gonna be on a Facebook page.
6:38
And then we just pass the administrator on to whoever's running the race that year. Right. And it works out slick, and it makes it easy for everybody to find, and- Mm-hmm...
6:46
I mean, it, it doesn't, it do- [laughs] when you think about it, it really doesn't clutter up much because we don't post a ton on there until it gets close to race day, and then a little bit after, and then it pretty much sits idle until the next year, which- Yeah.
6:55
That's the other thing. If anybody's out there who's interested in hosting next year, let us know right away so that we can start planning the, uh, deciders. I've got, I got four things that I wanna do.
7:05
One, we absolutely have to do, and it involves a river. [laughs] Oh, that's right. That's a big part about, uh... Well, the core is the river that... You- I think it's underutilized and underappreciated really.
7:16
I mean, to have a river that wide that goes right through town. Granted, it has been low the last couple of years, but the kayaking and the tubing and just on a hot day, I'm sure...
7:24
I remember Dirt Burger, everybody was- Oh, yeah... people jumping in there. Oh. Like, Trevor was drumming his bike. And for those of you that are staying in the campgrounds, August is gonna be hot. Mm.
7:32
So it's gonna be really cool because at the campgrounds where the tent camping is, there's that runoff that actually runs underneath the Trout Run paved trail. The cut. The cut, yeah.
7:40
And there's, and there's, there's kids playing in that, and families just hanging out at the end.
7:44
It's like the, it's like, um, it reminds me of a place in Austin, Texas that Carrie took me to, and it's, it's on the Green Belt, and I can't think of the name of the, the area. Mm.
7:54
But it- it's- it- that reminds me the same thing, where it's like there's this big runoff, and there's people just lounging all up and down the thing and walking up and down the paths. Yeah.
8:03
It's, it's the same idea, so it's gonna be cool. Yeah. Yeah. It, it's basically they blasted through there, um, so the town would quit flooding. So they cut, I think... But the, I don't know.
8:12
I'll tell you, the cliffs are on the sides. 80 feet? Yeah, probably, at least, yeah. Probably. And, um, yeah.
8:20
But I'm gonna start going around town, and I got a bunch of pictures just posting things so that people that come, if you come early, you come late, r- I mean, we'll do some group ride things, but there's so much to do here.
8:28
Like Ice Cave, the cave that has ice in it year-round. Um, uh, Dunning Springs, the waterfall, Malanaphy Springs waterfall. Um, so it's like- Is that, what's the one off the Trout? Is it the one with the Trout Hatch? No.
8:40
So the Trout Run Hatchery has its own too. Yeah. Yeah. Um, so the Trout Run Trail is a paved trail that, um, you know, it's a 13-mile loop. Um, people have a lot of fun on that too. Um, or like Palisades.
8:52
So Palisades Park isn't gonna be part of the race. I don't know how many miles of trail are there, but it's literally still in town. [laughs] Yeah.
8:59
And, uh, Friday night, there's, uh, we always have gravel or dirt track, uh, it's not a NASCAR race. What do you call that? It's just modified stock cars. Modified stock. Yeah. Stock car racing that's called. Yeah.
9:09
So you can ride up to the top of Palisades and watch, watch the races from the cliffs. Oh, yeah.
9:14
So, [laughs] um, there's little things like that that I'm gonna, like, expand on, and so that other people can see kind of what all there is to do here if they wanna make it a multiple day trip.
9:23
That might've been part of the problem with my event actually, because I said the 19th through the 21st, and the race is on the 20th. Oh, yeah. And it says something about the category, I'm thinking back now.
9:35
The category had something to do with the ca- they, they couldn't do insurance for a multiple day thing. Right, because, because each day has to be insured separately. Oh.
9:42
That, that, that's kind of, that's kind of like, um- I bet that's how I f- I think even like the Mork races and, and, um, Wars series, I think it's running the same thing.
9:49
You have to actually, they actually have to buy insurance for each individual race. Like, I think you have to [coughs] take out something even for hot lap days, if I remember right. Hmm. Okay.
10:00
So that might, that might be the problem. That might be what's wrong. That's, that's an, that's an easy fix though. Right. Yeah. Yeah. I'm, I'm sure it's in, I'm sure it's something simple.
10:05
It's just been a while since I did it, so I don't... I was like, I woke up Saturday, I'm like, "Did that go live?" [laughs] I'm like, "I don't, I don't see it." I don't get an email.
10:14
And I, I log in, I'm like, "Oh, it's still pending? What the..." Anyways. I'm sitting here watching your dog. Phoebe, what are you doing? Well, she likes to sniff everything. She's gonna, yeah. She's just investigating.
10:25
There's only been 14,000 dogs in this house, so there's, like, a new smell on every corner. That's what she's looking for, I'm sure. Yeah. Yeah. Um, so- So that's, that takes care of that for the most part.
10:37
Um- And we did say there is no common campground. Right. Do an Airbnb. Do... I guess Marty Larson said that he was able to reserve campground spots, which I didn't think you could do here, but maybe he's tent camping.
10:47
Maybe you can reserve a tent camping spot. I didn't think you could reserve any of that. Well, you can if you, or if you're going for a week at a time. I don't know. I think- Well, maybe, but- I think a week at...
10:56
Well, I know there's, I know there's something f- for over the holidays, but I thought maybe it is if you do a week at a time you can, you can reserve ahead of time.
11:02
Or maybe they opened up some more spots, but I mean- I don't know. Yeah... the campground down here is packed every single weekend. Yeah. And they do have overflow.
11:10
That's, the only bad thing about that is it's, it's by the bluff and by the soccer field and all. You can use the campgrou- Soccer? Yeah... you can use the campground shower facility, but it's,
11:20
it's a bit of a walk or a bit of a, a bike ride to get to it, 'cause you're, like, it down, I don't know. And by a bit, we're talking like quarter mile, half mile. Yeah. Oh, yeah, it's not that far.
11:27
Yeah, I mean, you can walk there easily, but it, it's, it's just a big open field that they've got a couple of porta potties and- Yeah...
11:32
but it's, um, and I think they charge you full freight, that, which is the bad thing. Oh. But at the same time, um, you look out there, there's always somebody out there. Yeah.
11:40
'Cause it's nice and it's a little more secluded, and, um, if you need to get to Pulpit Rock, it's, it's a quarter mile closer, so you can get there a little bit faster. A little bit.
11:47
[laughs] Well, and that's the thing too that I've been putting out there, like, if you get here, you can park your car, and you should not need your car the rest of the weekend. Right.
11:55
I mean, everything in this town is so close. I mean, everything. [sighs] Everything's, y- you should be able to ride to every bar, to every trail. Um- E- everything's in city limits.
12:07
Um, we're not even gonna use all the parks. We're not gonna use Carlson at all and we're not gonna use Palisades at all. Um, we'll have to see what the numbers are.
12:16
I'm starting to get a little worried about how Twin Springs would work, 'cause it does have to be a directional time trial type of thing- Hmm... so you don't have- We could, we could always switch that to my idea then.
12:25
Oh. Is, is doing the race starting here. Oh. [laughs] And then go up and do a loop of Carlson's. [laughs] With the, with the hotdog? With the hotdog, yes.
12:32
[laughs] Stole the idea from somebody else, but it sounded like a great idea, so we can do that. We've-- I've been talking about doing this for a while.
12:38
I wanna do a time trial that starts, like, literally in my front yard, and you ride about, I don't know, half a mile of pavement. Or maybe it was more- It was more than that... yeah. More than a mile, probably.
12:48
Well, but it's uphill. Then you get to Carlson's, which is not really a mountain bike trail, it's just a big- It's a double tracks- Loop... it's a big cross-country ski trail. And you do two loops- Yeah...
12:56
and then come back to the house, and the whole time you're doing it, you have to carry a hotdog with you. Then when you get to the finish line, you have to finish your hotdog before your time ends.
13:02
[laughs] I, I can't remember who did that. I think somebody else in maybe Marin County or somebody did it, and I'm like, "I have to do that. That's so awesome." [laughs] So maybe that takes the place of Twin Springs.
13:13
We'll see. Yeah. We'll see. Twin Springs is still fun, though. Twin Springs is fun, but we just had the, the time trial of the union out there, and it went well, but it was... Are you taking care of puppies? Yep. What?
13:25
Keep talking. I'm gonna go- Okay. Oh, Vivvy's whining or something's going on. But, um, yeah, so we, we didn't have a huge turnout. Uh, the Milwaukee boys did not make it. Um, sounds like they partied too hard.
13:35
[laughs] Sorry, Sven, and I don't know if Tony was coming. Um, and JK, I don't know what the deal was, but... Oh, get a top off of coffee here.
13:43
Um, but that's just, like, a one-mile loop with a shit ton of climbing, and, um, it's a directional trail. There's a spring at the bottom, and it is just a drop-off.
13:52
It's a beautiful trail, and there's a nice park at the bottom, so it worked great for what we did out there, but if we do have 200 riders, it's gonna be really tough to do.
14:00
The idea was have everybody meet in that park, and that's gonna be the starting point, and then we ride through town
14:06
on the paved trail to the other trails, and, um, and s- and start the race through River Trail, near the waterfalls, go past Ice Cave, go b- into Death Valley, and then start everybody from there.
14:18
Um, what was the biggest time trial, like, the r- original Decorah time trials? Like 140? Yeah. Um, the year... Well, and, and we actually did it in June, 'cause it was Decorah's seco-centennial. Oh.
14:29
And so yeah, we were, we're... I think we were over 150 that year. Wow. And which was odd, because it was right in the middle of the, uh, of the, the real mountain bike race season.
14:37
I don't know how we picked a weekend that didn't have anything else going on. Okay. Between Minnesota and Wisconsin, they have so many races. But, um, yeah, the turnout was insane. Mm-hmm.
14:45
And we debated about keeping it that weekend, but it was tied in... I don't remember if it was tied in with Nordic Fest or what it was. It was the, the...
14:51
It was a big celebration in town, and they asked us to move it to that weekend, and we did, and it was, it was huge. But it's really hard...
14:59
You know, at that time, it was bike shop owners that were, that were racing and putting on the races and stuff, and so to tie up your June or take a weekend off in June to go to a bike race or to, to shut your shop down to go help out at one was really hard on the shops.
15:13
Sure. So we kinda, we kinda gave up on that idea. Sure. Well, a- and the other thing, too, with that many racers in a time trial... So was it still one-minute intervals? Oh, we were down to 30 seconds. Okay. Yeah, yeah.
15:23
I was gonna say, 'cause that's, that's over two hours- I was, I was hoarse... if it's just one minute. I'd held everybody's seat and let every rider up. I was so hoarse by the end of the day.
15:30
[laughs] I couldn't talk for a week. [laughs] Which everybody's happy about, I think, but- Yeah... um, and you know, and the thing is is back then, also, don't forget the reason that we started the time trials was- Hey.
15:40
Hey, Clark? No. Hey. Was to, um, um... [dogs growling] We got puppy fight going. Yep. Go to your room. We'll see what happens. Oh, that's [laughs] like Vivva's on his bed. [laughs] Oh, is that what it was? Viv, relax.
15:55
She's got her hackles. Oh, no, Viv, or Holly's... Um, anyway, so the reason behind the time trial was, as Deke decided to do this, was you could come to the time trials. We did it by age.
16:03
Like, we did two-year increments in age, and it gave you a chance to get on a mountain bike, ride against people that were
16:12
faster than you, slower than you, whatever, to determine what class you wanted to race in that season, and then... You know, 'cause back then it was sport. It was beginner, sport,
16:21
uh, expert, and pro were, were the classes that we had. And then- Oh, four. Okay... and there's four, yeah.
16:25
And then, and then so like it gave you a chance to decide that I can race with the experts or whatever, so that gave you a chance to pick. And so that's why we moved it back to the first part of April so that
16:34
it was just a, it was just for fun and give you a chance to decide. You know, and back then, nobody rode in the winter. Nobody rode year-round.
16:40
I mean, h- very few people would get on a trainer, let alone, you know, actually train for a race in April. But now everybody rides year-round and- Mm-hmm...
16:47
you know, there, there's a whole race circuit in the winter and stuff, so nobody really gets out of shape anymore, so. Yeah. So for the- Yeah. Some of us never get in shape. [laughs] Yeah.
16:55
[laughs] I was gonna say- In the first place... that's assuming we were in shape to start with. Mm-hmm. Um- Yeah... so yeah, so the time trials was fun. I don't know what we're gonna do next year.
17:03
I know there's talk of bringing it back to doing it the, the way it was. Bring back the full one or do nothing. Yeah. [laughs] Do both. Yeah, I mean, the cool thing was is actually...
17:11
I don't know how else you could, you could inter- you could make it more fun there. Um, Twin Springs is such a cool little spot. Yeah.
17:17
I didn't realize how much fun it was there until I beat you guys there, 'cause Captain wanted me there at 11:00 and you guys didn't show up until noon.
17:22
But watching people and talking to people that were just hanging around there, it is a really fun place to s- run a small event, so. Yeah.
17:29
If we wanna keep it small and keep it going like that and keep it just the city people, it's fun. Which, yeah, we can do that, too. I mean, it was advertised a little late- Well, yeah... if you wanted big numbers. Right.
17:40
But- It was only the week before. Yeah. Any, any... And Captain just puts it out on his little Facebook thing, and then that's all there is to it, and that's nice, but it's not widely advertised, I guess.
17:50
So if we went back to the time trial, we'd go back to... I mean- Yeah... we just- Well, and that was the thing.
17:54
It's like I know there's people from out of town, uh, calling, um, the shop and, and posting online and stuff and asking, "Hey, the time trials is back?" I'm like, "I would come up for that," and stuff.
18:03
It's like, well, this is, this is a, a one mile and a one-mile course. It's, uh, not the original time trial. So that doesn't mean that you can't come up, do this, and then go ride, you know?
18:12
Right, and that's, and that's the way you gotta look at it, because there, there's no other way you can do anything else but that. Right. You know, even if you did two laps would be- Then it's two miles and two miles.
18:20
It's... There's nothing else there to use. It's that. Yeah. That's, you know... It's like the Carlson property's kinda the same way.
18:26
And [laughs] what's a nice part, too, of running it that way and not, like, the big events, like, I don't know, you probably...
18:31
You haven't been to Battle at Camrock or, um, [tsks] well, the, like, the Fat Bike Birkie, you know? Yeah. You, you tried to ride and they wouldn't let you. [laughs] I, I... That's [laughs]... So this one is- I-...
18:40
the way that we run the time trial, no matter when you show up, you can still get a time. Right. So we could be drinking there for two hours or, you know, whatever. Well, we'll see.
18:47
And as you show up, we'll start the watch and you can do a lap. Yeah. Which is nice. Actually, that worked out better than, like- [laughs]...
18:52
the constant running of a clock and then have to go ba- It would made, it made figuring out results so much easier for me. Mm-hmm. Because I didn't have to, like...
18:59
I could, like, zero the stopwatch and start it all over again, instead of the add a minute- Right... take away a minute, take away a minute. Yeah. You know, that th- that mess. That was a mess at times, but- Yeah.
19:07
Yeah, if you get a big group. Yeah. Yeah. And it was a cool bunch that didn't really care about their times, I think. Somebody's bragging to me, but then- Wait, I don't- Did I beat her anyway? I- Or she beat me?
19:16
I can't remember. [laughs] Oh, no, she beat you- By a second or-... once. Okay. The second time I think you got her. Okay. Yeah. I know she didn't ask about the second one, so I was assuming she already knew.
19:27
[laughs] Oh, I just... I need to ride more. I haven't rode hardly at all. Well- And that was, like, my third time in the single speed out this year. I've- And-...
19:37
been riding back and forth around town just doing, like, to errands and stuff, but I wasn't sure I should be on the trails with my hip. I came down here two weeks ago and rode,
19:46
um, I think I went out and did a captain's loop out up, up in Van Peenen and that was five miles and it was actually felt really good, so I got the okay to ride more. Yeah. So get that back in.
19:57
And the weather's been shit. Every time I come down it seems like it rains an inch and a half before I get down here.
20:01
Well, it has been raining, and whenever it's a nice day, like, I gotta run up to La Crosse today, but when I come back there's trees to cut out, so I'm gonna do that.
20:07
And hopefully I can get out on the bike a little bit, 'cause I'm going to State College, uh, Pennsylvania, where... What was Single Speed out there? 2016 maybe? Uh, '15 or '16, yeah. Yeah.
20:16
I'm going out there next week, and I'll actually... I'll ride in my Squeeb, my Reid Squeeb for that. Oh, you're gonna want that because- I-... the baby heads are insane. I mean- Yeah...
20:25
that, we haven't been out there since, um, Single Speed World was held there. USA? Uh, I think it was Single Speed World. There's worlds in there too? It was, it was Single Speed Worlds that was held there I think.
20:33
Uh, th- I know... Well, no, that... 'cause Doug won- Oh, wait... in Wisconsin. But- Wait. Are you gonna go to, are you gonna go to where Doug ran the race, or are you gonna go to State College and ride?
20:40
'Cause we, 'cause State College is where... And I can't remember who it was, ran Single Speed Worlds. Oh. Oh. And that was, that was up and down ski hills. That was, like... And it was... The trails were, um... We...
20:54
Of course, I was riding with all the Cyrille guys.
20:55
That was back when, um, Sav and Andy Carson and, um, Nick Sandy and all those gu- Nick Sandy, first time I'd seen a guy go down a hill after his hydraulic brake line broke. [laughs] And it was...
21:10
So it was like on, it was like on a ski ar- ski area. So the, the climbs were horrible. Yeah.
21:14
And then when you got to the top, you got to the top and there was, you know, and we always call them baby heads, but there's these rock gardens- Yeah... that are, like, anywhere from 50 feet to 150 yards long.
21:26
And then we got to playing, 'cause you get Andy out there a- and Nick, and you know, and they're such technical riders, that those guys are like, "Goddammit, I can ride this."
21:32
So we w- [laughs] we missed the cutoff, and not because...
21:34
well, we were dinking around, but we're dinking around because they all kept going back, "I gotta go back and try this again, 'cause I know I can- You gotta get that line... I can clean this line." Yeah. Yeah.
21:40
You know, and we had B-rolls with us, and it was, it was really fun. Um, and, and then the best part was is because we didn't make the cut- Yeah...
21:47
we missed another, like, seven-mile climb [laughs] or something stupid like that. And w- but that's, that... They said that downhill was insane. I think Hollywood was the one that was rocking that.
21:57
But, um, we got to go ride a bunch of single track back down into the ski chalet that was, like, so fucking fun. Huh. And it was like, "Why is this not the race to go on?" "Ah, 'cause we just...
22:09
this is new and we don't wanna... we don't... it's, it'd take too long to get done." Yeah. But- Sometimes it's hard to- But we're all just like, we're just like, "No, that was..."
22:16
[laughs] We were so happy that we got kicked out of the race- [laughs]... 'cause it was like, that was... It was just awesome.
22:22
You know, kind of the first time on the, at bank corners on, on, um, serpentine hill cl- drops and stuff. It was fricking awesome. We had a great time. And the- When, when you do a race that big, I mean, it's...
22:31
In a, in a place like that, there's trails that you just can't use I'm sure. Oh, sure. Yeah. And this race, that race, th- this...
22:38
it's gonna be all different skillsets, all different levels, and all different, you know, speeds. Yeah.
22:42
So, you know, the fast guys might ki- knock this out in, you know, two hours, where there's gonna be people that are always... Are we doing a dead DFL this year?
22:52
So somebody's, like, gonna purposely try to be the last guy? Yes, we'll do... Well, there will be a DFL, but y- you have to complete all three categories. You have to ride the whole thing. All three stages. Yeah.
23:01
All three stages. If you don't ride all three stages you're not gonna get DFL. Yeah. Well, and we just don't wanna be out there till, like, 8:00 at night. Right. Yeah.
23:08
I'd like to have this thing wrapped up and start the games around 6:00 or so, 'cause I think we're gonna start at 10:00. But yeah, there's trails that we're not using too for the same reason. Tra- yeah. Yeah.
23:16
And if you're here for the weekend you can ride them, but we're just gonna not keep them in the course. Just one part for logistics, you know, you don't want to cross roads and stuff like that.
23:24
Right, 'cause that, that takes... The... Right.
23:25
Not only crossing roads, it helps us take care of getting the police to come out and do crossroads, you know, intersection traffic control for us and stuff, and that's nice not to bother those guys, and- Yeah...
23:35
they're gonna be worried enough just having a bunch of guys barreling around on their mountain bikes. Yeah. Yeah. So... And we don't wanna draw super, a whole lot of attention to ourselves. [laughs] Right.
23:45
That's fucking gonna be hard to do. Well, some of the cops ride bike, and some- Yeah... I think some of the sheriffs ride bike. You just sold a bike to a sheriff. Yeah. We just had the [laughs]...
23:52
[laughs] He's still got my axle. Has he got his new one yet? I don't know. [laughs] Well, if you need your... Mine's is in the garage, so take mine and put it on your bike.
24:00
His kid graduated too, so he's probably busy- Oh, yeah... with his graduation and stuff. But it was, it was funny 'cause, you know, small town stuff, I, um...
24:08
Well, the day of the time trial he, he's, he'd just got off work, so... And this town, the way it is, it's like he pulls up in front of my house- In his sheriff car... so there's a sheriff car sitting there.
24:16
[laughs] And I'm not kidding you, he's [laughs]... I, I just happened to be walking out, 'cause he was gonna come up and bang on the door and go, "Search warrant." [laughs] 'Cause he, you know...
24:24
[laughs] And I, I said, "Sue's in the shower. You should really..." He goes, "If I knew her, I would." [laughs] You would too. He go, [laughs] yeah.
24:30
And then, and then the, the best part was is there's a car show going on at the same time, and the entrance is down at the bottom of the street. So I was literally sitting out in the front yard watching.
24:37
I didn't have to go to the car show. They all drove by my house. Yeah. And so I go, I knocked on his window. Didn't even get a chance to get out.
24:42
I knock on his window and go, "What are you being a prick and just r- rusting all the street riders as they come by?"
24:46
[laughs]I've been wondering about that Yeah, so then, [laughs] so the best part was before he left, and we just stood out here and talked for a little bit.
24:53
He took the bike for a ride, and, you know, and he's all in uniform.
24:55
Uh, somebody from Fareway Foods was just, just down the street had already called one of the, my neighbors and said, "Why is there a cop car down there?" [laughs] And then somebody called captain.
25:04
Captain goes, "He knows the cop. He's buying a bike from him." [laughs] But, you know, within 20, within 20 seconds of the cop pulling up front, the neighborhood wants to know why there's a cop at our house.
25:13
[laughs] That's, that's Decorah for you. [laughs] A small town, for sure. I would think they'd be used to it by now, here especially. Yeah. Well, our cops are, are great.
25:21
We don't have, we don't have a lot of crime, and our cops are, you know, part of the community. Yeah. So they all live here. Oh, yeah. They're all good guys. The, the, Flokie, um, uh, the new K9 unit guy lives by me. Oh.
25:31
So, um, yeah, I don't know. We're a tight-knit community, and we shouldn't have a problem. Just we're gonna have the whole don't be a dick is very important in this town. Yes, yeah.
25:41
[laughs] And, and, and when you come down for that, um, public, especially downtown, drinking outside of, of the establishment you're at, if there's a patio, yes, don't take it into the streets. Right.
25:52
It's, that's, that is... If this town's gonna get on their butts about anything, it's gonna be that. Yeah, people running around with beers in their hands. Yeah. And there's enough bars, and beers are cheap. Yeah.
26:01
You know? And there's, and there's a ton of places. You wanna go sit in a park and just keep it kinda low-key, that's fine. Because technically you can't drink in the parks, but, um, but if you're just...
26:09
If it's- They won't bust you unless you deserve to be busted. Exactly. Yeah. Yeah, yeah. That, that- So it, it'll be good... that's the approach we're taking. So the last thing, 'cause I'm, I wanna be really tough.
26:19
I'm gonna try to keep this at, um, 30 minutes. How much, where are we at? Uh, 26. Okay. So we're doing good. We're doing great. Um, I just got a text from Carrie.
26:27
She's, uh, a friend of ours from Austin, Texas, and she's been bugging me and a couple of the other guys to, uh, she wants to go on a bike packing trip. And, um, her newest spot she wants to go is in the UK. Um,
26:44
uh, what's, it's called Kamloop, I think. Hang on a second. Let me look it up here. Um, I just started reading about it, um, on...
26:51
I'll put a link to this place in our, on our pages because, um, it looks like a ton of fun. It's like 800 and some miles of off-road mountain bike pack- backpacking in, um, the UK.
27:06
Like, southeast side of England, it sounded like. Um, what little bit I've done over there, we've gone over and done Charlie's, um, Dorset Dash and stuff. Uh, it, I can hardly wait to go.
27:15
However, she wants to do it Thanksgiving, which is the start of my hockey season, so that ends that idea for me. Mm.
27:21
So, and, and Pat just said that the weather over there is shit that time of year, so I wanna try to get her to go out earlier.
27:26
But, um, we'll put, post a, a thing on our page about that and, um- What bike would you take, uh, bike packing? Well, over there, um- Like a Fargo or something? Yeah, Fargo would be good.
27:38
Um, I know Fleck and those guys did it on their Midnight Specials, the Surly guys. Oh. Um- That's just a Straggler with fat tires, isn't it? Yeah, basically. Is, is what that is. I mean, you, you...
27:47
There's, there's places where you do need the fat tires. I did it, when we did the Dorset Dash, I did it on my, um, my Krampus. Oh, okay.
27:58
And I'm just, I made a, I made a rack for the back of it, and I put a bag on the front, and then a, a big seat post bag off the back, and that's all I used.
28:04
Because when the Dorset Dash is, you can do 100 miles in one day, or you can do 50, camp, and then 50, go back. And I don't know why you wouldn't camp.
28:11
Because Charlie and his buddy had this giant tent they set up, and, and it, it's like, it's like a festival tent. Okay.
28:17
And then they had, like, a cheese tasting contest, and, and, um, uh, they had bands playing, and it was... And, and he, him and his, him and his buddy are c- they're fantastic cooks, so the food was fantastic.
28:29
I was just like, if you didn't go with- English food was fantastic? [laughs] No, I don't think Charlie actually makes English f- [laughs] He calls it English food. I'm not buying it for a second. Oh, okay.
28:37
Yeah, no, it was really fun. It was a good time. And I, uh, I think it's, it's held on Memorial Weekend, so maybe it's probably next weekend. Um- Oh... I wish I could go again. Is it still going on?
28:46
Oh, yeah, he still runs it, yeah. Is Charlie, well, is he just selling bum butter? Did he sell the shop? Yep. Yeah, he's out of the shop. He was, well, that's, when we were over there last, he was selling the shop then.
28:54
Oh, okay. I remember, yeah, he was- Yeah... getting into selling it, but- He was, yeah... okay. It's, um, you know, and his, his shop was kinda weird 'cause it was, uh, it was a nice place to take a nap.
29:01
I know that, 'cause I did, I think I slept in there twice. [laughs] Took, took a little nap. [laughs] Oh, perfect. Yeah. It was, it was fun there. I enjoyed the place a lot. It's, it was my first trip.
29:13
Um, Pat and I went over there, and we spent some time in London riding our bikes around. And then we hooked up with Charlie afterwards, and we did just a, um...
29:19
And this, this trail that I'm gonna send you a map of has got, um, they call them canal paths.
29:25
So where the canals go through that they'll, that the long boats used to go through to bring the barges to bring things in, and the horses walked down it. So that's part of this course, this trail that you'd ride.
29:34
And there's, um, they said there's some Roman roads, and it looks like there's some pretty heavy-duty off-road riding along with it. So it's, it sounds like a great thing.
29:41
I'll, like I said, I'll post it and, and, uh, maybe I can talk Carrie into going a different time other than during the hockey season. Yeah. It's, um, but it's something else I really wanna do.
29:50
And, you know, and Greg's talked about, um, uh, Sven's talked about doing, uh, backpacking, backpacking trips like crazy. So, um- Oh, is he? Oh, yeah.
30:00
He's been itching to do something like that too, and it's just fr- uh, as, like everything else with us, to get the whole group together is so hard. Well, yeah.
30:06
You kinda have to pick and choose, set a date, and who can make it can- Mm-hmm... and who can't. And yeah, that's, that's just how life works today. And I think, and I think in our old age- [laughs]...
30:14
it's starting to get to be that's the kinda riding we're gonna do more of. Well, that's why I was saying I'm gonna take the Squeeb, my full suspension, out to, uh, Pennsylvania, 'cause there are monster climbs.
30:24
And the last time I went to Moab on the Krampus, I was just like, there was multiple day rides, but that bike beats you up so much. Oh, yeah. And to the point where I can't single speed rigid every day.
30:33
I t- On, on a big trail like that and do multiple trips. I missed a couple rides 'cause I'm like I can't hold my r- hands on the bars anymore [laughs] you know?
30:40
[laughs] I took, I took my Krampus to, um, Fruita and did the Fruita Trails, which lead out to Moab, and it's like, now that, that was bad enough, let alone dr- even thinking about Fru- about Moab. Right.
30:50
Yeah, we went to Ishpeming, and Copper Harbor, and Marquette last year, and I took the Squeeb with, and just having gears for a change, I'm just like, "This is so easy." [laughs] "You guys are putzes.
31:00
You guys ride this all the time. [laughs] You ride this around southern Wisconsin, and Iowa, and Illinois. That's... This is not fair."
31:06
[laughs] But I, there's, I have a g- I don't know if I ever brought this up before, but I have a young guy that's on my hockey team that's probably one of our better mountain bikers in m- in Rochester. Yeah.
31:15
And, uh, um, I haven't rode with him yet, mostly because I'm so bad out of shape. But, um, I told him, "We go riding, I'm not gonna ride any bike with gears." Yeah. And he just looked at me like, "What the hell is that?"
31:27
[laughs] And I said, "Because it won't make you faster." Yeah. So he doesn't believe me, so I'm g- he's about my height, so he's gonna take m- I think I'm gonna...
31:34
I think the first thing I'm gonna put him on is my Pugsley. Yeah. The single speed Pugsley. Go, "Here. It's a big fat tire and really spinny gears, so try to go fast on that little guy." Yeah. You know?
31:43
All, all you have to do is pedal. Yeah. That's the nice thing about it. [laughs] Yeah. Okay. All right. What are we at? Did we hit our time? We... Oh, we're at 1:31. We screwed up again. Oh. All right.
31:51
Well, that's- Very soon... all we've got for now. Hopefully when we get back to everybody, we'll be, people will be registering for SingleSpeed USA. When the show is up. Yeah.
31:58
When the show is posted, the website should be up. I'm assuming we'll get it figured out tomorrow. Yeah. Yeah. All right. Thanks, man. All right. More coffee, and let's get out of here. Okay.
32:09
[rock music]
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